The Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) allegedly forced all examiners to sit for the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) before proceeding to mark the papers.
The teachers are said to have been tested for their proficiency at the national marking centre. The papers were then marked and graded.
A senior KCSE examiner revealed that any teacher who scored less than 95 percent was immediately discontinued from marking the students' papers.
"The overriding concern was that there was no way a marker who did not get all the answers right could mark the paper," the source conveyed, adding that the standard was especially strict for those marking Maths, English, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
[caption caption="KNEC Chairman George Magoha"]
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Dubbed the "pre-qualification" process, the chief examiner was first to take the exam followed by his juniors four days before marking commenced.
The chief examiner's test was then marked by the setter of the exam creating a marking scheme that the examiners would discuss and approve.
"Thereafter, they met the various team leaders numbering about 100 to discuss the paper and then, under the guidance of chief examiners and assistant chief examiners (ACEs), conducted the same tests on the team leaders," Standard reports.
Over 1,200 markers reported to the various marking stations where they took the exam to qualify. Those who attained the 95 percent pass mark were then given 12 dummy answer sheets to mark.
The dummy answer sheets were then given a score after which the teams discussed the answers and made necessary amendments such as alternative formulas that could be allowed for students to calculate answers.
Finally, the marker was given three dummy answer sheets to mark according to the agreed criteria as a "pre-test". These would then be handed to eight other markers to confirm the score given and if any stark discrepancies were found, the marker was dismissed.
In the end, each student's paper was marked by a teacher then confirmed by various team leaders with the ACEs and the chief examiners giving the final marks respectively.
[caption caption="Education CS Fred Matiang'i"]
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